What happened to my radishes????

[brian7622]

Hi, new gardener here, or at least, trying to be one. I planted Cherry Belle radishes on April 6. They have 22 days till maturity so I picked one on April 28. Then, I picked a few more only to find very shallow roots and no radishes! They are planted in a small, bottom watering container. The first week, I watered from the top as per directions. Then watered from the bottom up after that. They are planted in Miracle Grow potting soil with fertilizer and have more than six hours a day of direct sunlight. Soil was always kept moist and no sign of insect problems. Can anyone give me a clue as to what I did wrong? I thought radishes were one of the easiest veggies to grow. I fear the carrots I'm growing may end up the same way...

[hendi_alex]

They roots will swell when the plants are closer to five inches across and a few inches tall. Yours are just starting to get their first true leaves, just infants. Wait about three weeks and then check.

[applestar]

First of all, the days to harvest is from germination. So when did they come up?
I agree these look very young -- maybe 7-10 days old?

They need to be thinned now so they will have plenty of room to grow and not compete with each other for nutrients and water. About 3" apart at least. You can eat thinning like the ones you uprooted as sprouts. They will taste like daikon sprouts.

[hendi_alex]

With such a small planting, personally I wouldn't thin at all. The dominant faster growing radishes will fill first and when harvested will provide room for its nearest neighbors to mature. Eventually most of the radishes should provide a harvest.

[brian7622]

OK, thank you for the advice. I''l try and be more patient with these guys and see what happens.

[applestar]

I guess that will work as long as there are plenty of water and fertilizer.

I'm a bit concerned that as a bottom watering container, this looks a bit shallow. There should be at least 6" soil depth, 8" would be better.

[brian7622]

Yes, the container is about six inches deep. I live in a townhome community and planting veggies in the ground is prohibited. So, I'm trying to sneek a container or two in between my shrubs. Being a first year gardener wanna be, I'm learning by trial and error. I keep the container bottom full of water at all times, and the soil should stay well fertilized for at least six months according to package. Perhaps I picked the wrong depth container.

[imafan26]

Be careful, if you want a root crop, not to go overboard with the nitrogen. Too much nitrogen will give you nice tops but not much root. Unless you also eat the greens.